STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football is preparing to play a team that, at least through one game, looks vastly improved from last season. 

Coach Jeff Lebby admitted on Monday, and Bulldog players have noticed it too after Arizona State (1-0) thumped Wyoming 48-7 in its opener. 

MSU (1-0) must also factor in the late kickoff that is scheduled Saturday (9:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Mississippi is hot, but so is Arizona — a different kind of hot, too. 

Modifications and remedies are being made, such as the team leaving Starkville on Thursday instead of how it normally would on a Friday for a Saturday game. 

“For our guys, just knowing exactly what we are getting into,” Lebby said. “We continue to talk about that through yesterday and this morning and (are) having those conversations to understand what it’s going to look like late in the week. We got to do a great job from a preparation standpoint of how we are hydrating, how we are eating and how we are resting to give us the ability to go on the road on this flight and be able to be at our best Saturday night.”

Just this week, Phoenix broke a record with its 100th straight day of 100-degree temperatures. According to AccuWeather, the high on Saturday in Tempe will be 107 degrees with a low of 86. The temperature should dip to around 91 near kickoff with a humidity of 24%.

“Coach Lebby has already been harping on that,” tight end Justin Ball said. “We’ve already been hydrating and making sure we are getting rest every single day. We leave on Thursday, so we already talked about the plan to make sure we are hydrating the entire plane ride there, making sure when we get there we get acclimated as quickly as you can and just staying together. Making sure we’re focused, make sure we keep the goal first and then execute the game plan.”

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Mississippi State played well the last time it played in Arizona

The Bulldogs played Arizona in Tucson two seasons ago. They squandered a pedestrian Wildcats team 39-17. Kickoff for that game was at 8 p.m. PST though the temperature was 84 degrees at game time. 

Not many players remain on Mississippi State’s roster from that 2022 season. But the ones who are, like linebacker Nic Mitchell, can benefit from the experience and also share it with teammates. 

“We know it’s going to be a long flight, so we know we got to be hydrated,” Mitchell said. “It gives people experience that have done it before and they can tell the young guys how it’s going to be in the flight, how you got to hydrate and stuff like that.”

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

Sophomore running back Kyson Brown is one of the faster players on the Arizona State football team. But Brown seems to have a little more pep in his step this week. Why? Well, the Sun Devils (1-0) are set to take on Mississippi State (1-0) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.

Sure an SEC opponent is enough to get any athlete fired up. But the 6-foot, 200-pounder hails from Tupelo, Mississippi, which is where he got his nickname, Sipp. Tupelo is 67 miles north of the Mississippi State campus in Starkville that Sipp has visited a handful of times.

“I have family, growing up they were all Mississipp State fans and some Ole Miss fans,” he said. “Some of my family are debating whether they want to cheer for me or not. It’s going to be good. A lot of hometown friends. Got a couple guys I went to high school with there. It’s going to be good seeing those guys and hopefully, we compete at a good level and get the W.”

Brown, a mechanical engineering major, is enrolled in ASU’s Barret honors program, He emerged as one of the team’s most improved players. He saw some time on special teams as a true freshman in 2023 and has set himself up for a bigger role, although the ASU backfield has a lot of depth.

In the last week’s 48-7 win over Wyoming, Brown pitched in with six rushing attempts for 25 yards and two receptions for 73 yards. His 68-yard touchdown reception was the longest play from scrimmage that ASU had on the night.

“It felt amazing just to get back in the end zone again,” Brown said. “You come out of high school, you know I’m used to being in the end zone every game, all the time. That play, I knew — once I made the first guy miss — I knew I wasn’t going to let anybody catch me.”

Brown lived in Mississippi until moving to Lancaster, Texas, outside of Dallas, after his sophomore year of high school. He sat out junior year after the transfer. As a senior he averaged 9.5 yards per carry, finishing with 707 yards and 11 touchdowns on 74 carries while adding 14 receptions for 168 yards and two touchdowns.

Sitting out his junior year hurt his recruiting, but he still had notable offers from Purdue, Missouri and Houston. The balance of his options were lower-profile schools. Mississippi State didn’t offer.

He is happy with the end result. A place on the ASU football roster. In the offseason, he worked on his agility, flexibility and catching the ball, which was evident in his recent scoring play.

“We all have the big-play potential,” he said of his fellow running backs. “I feel my role is to make plays, wherever they put me be able to perform.”

Lawmakers, PERS director agree they must work together in the future

State lawmakers will need to readdress concerns about the Public Employment Retirement System of Mississippi in 2025 if it is to remain viable long term, according to a July study.

Legislative actions in the 2024 Session to reduce public employer contribution rate hikes and increase state funding are not enough to address billions in unfunded future benefits to retirees, according to a report released by the Legislature’s third-party watchdog group, the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee.

Projections show the state’s retirement plan being less than 50% fully funded by 2047 and having $25 billion in liabilities. According to several municipal leaders who spoke to the Clarion Ledger earlier this year, the legislative move from lawmakers in the past session should save public employers from cutting positions and raising taxes to keep and hire more public employees.

“Change in approach for increasing the employer contribution rate, in addition to the one-time funds transfer, reduces the plan’s projected future funded ratio from 65.5% to 49.9%,” the report reads. “…The PERS plan is currently expected to be at a lower-funded level in the future than it currently is today.”

PERS Executive Director Ray Higgins told the Clarion Ledger he wasn’t surprised by the report’s findings.

“The PEER analysis seems to be an accurate report and generally reconciles with our information,” Higgins said. “Also, the legislative action from last session appears to be a short-term solution.”

While the report does not list out any specific recommendations for lawmakers this coming year, it says continued work will be necessary to fix the retirement system that has 118,000 retirees receiving benefits and 147,000 active members paying into the system.

In 2023, the PERS governing board, made up of mostly elected members, as advised by financial actuaries who watch over the state’s retirement plan, passed a rate increase on public employers, such as cities, counties and school districts from 17.40% to 19.90% that was to take effect July 1. The rate would have continued to increase to 22.4% by 2027.

In the 2024 Session, the Legislature passed two bills. Senate 3231, prohibits the PERS Board’s plan to gradually increase the employer contribution rate and replaces it with a plan to increase to 19.90% over the next five years in 0.5% annual increases. SB 3231 also takes the board’s only regulatory power to increase rates and puts it in the hands of the Legislature.

SB 2468 enacts a one-time transfer of $110 million of capital expense funds into the PERS trust.

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Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s Deputy Chief of Staff Leah Rupp Smith told the Clarion Ledger efforts Hosemann helped push forward that resulted in those bills’ passage led to a potentially more stable retirement system.

“To avoid this calamity while developing a future solution, the Legislature adopted a less-aggressive employer increase,” Smith wrote via email. “We are now informed the plan has a projected future funding ratio of 65.5% as of 2047, as compared to 48.6% projected one year ago.”

Republican House Speaker Jason White’s Communications Director Taylor Spillman did not reply to several emails requesting White’s comments on the report.

What are the big problems?

Higgins previously said the ratio of retirees to active members has seen a reverse trend since 2013, when there were 93,000 retirees and 162,000 active members. This increases the unfunded liability of the system as fewer people take jobs in government, reducing active members and more people retire, increasing the funding obligation of PERS.

The other issue lies with projections for the retirement plan’s future if state lawmakers decide not to take action in the years to come.

“While the ($110 million) funding for the first year is comparable, each year in the future could potentially see a greater deviation in expected employer contribution revenues for the PERS plan,” the report reads. “This deviation does not immediately constitute a problem for the PERS plan; however, careful evaluation of the plan’s future liabilities and funding needs will be necessary to ensure the sustainability of the PERS plan.”

Are there any solutions?

Higgins and Smith both said future work on PERS is still a top priority.

Higgins specifically mentioned a new retirement benefits package that could be offered to new public sector employees, which the PERS board has called tier 5.

“The Board has previously recommended a tier 5 for new employees to help better sustain PERS in the future and is currently considering what may be included or resubmitted in next year’s legislative package,” Higgins said.

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Earlier this year, Hosemann told the Clarion Ledger he wanted to see evidence that a new tier of benefits could help maintain the retirement system long term. Smith did not confirm whether Hosemann’s office is currently studying that idea in the legislative off season, but she did say the Legislature is looking at several ideas.

“The Legislature is exploring any option for a more viable plan,” Smith said. “The Lt. Governor continues to be committed to fulfilling current employee and retiree benefits, including the cost-of-living adjustment for these individuals.”

Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.